Thought sunflowers needed full sun all day - boy was I wrong

Kept planting them along my south fence in Denver. They'd get scorched by 2pm every July. Read this extension bulletin from CSU about afternoon shade actually helping with wind damage and heat stress. Moved them to the east side of my shed last spring and they hit 8 feet tall. Anyone else have plants that do better with less direct sun than you'd expect?

3 comments

3 Comments

benc533d ago

You know my buddy Mike? He had the same thing with his tomatoes in Phoenix. Thought they'd love all that sun and they just fried every year. Moved them to a spot that only got morning sun and they went crazy.

the_cole2d agoTop Commenter

So Mike basically had to teach his tomatoes some sun safety, huh?

danielmason2d ago

So why do we always assume plants are like us - the more sun the better? I once planted a whole row of peonies in the "hottest part" of my yard because I thought they needed it. Turns out they were just sulking and dropping buds like a teenager who didn't get their phone back. I moved them to a spot that gets maybe five hours of morning light and now they're taller than my dog. Sometimes I think my plants know more about gardening than I do, which is a real bummer when I'm the one buying the compost.